Ten avoidable mistakes made by Trenton Mayor George Muschal

TRENTON — Mayor George Muschal has watched his political career crumble in just a week.

Here are mistakes Muschal has made that could have been avoided that were called out by residents at Thursday night’s council meeting, during which his decision to can Fire Director Qareeb Bashir was reversed by his peers on council.

10. No human resources director during firings: Instead of having a professional present during the questionable firings of Bashir and Law Director Caryl Amana, Muschal invited Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson, who happened to be talking with the mayor and was asked to stay. Muschal said his reasoning for her being there was he wanted “a witness.” The councilwoman claimed she didn’t participate and just “sat in the room,” not saying a word. Surely, Muschal could have found someone else in City Hall more appropriate for the situation. “The idea that a city councilwoman had the audacity to be a bystander — a witness — is totally unacceptable,” resident Jerrell Blakely said. “You were a witness to one of the worst decisions that has happened in the city in a long time.” Blakely continued his attack by implying the racial dynamic between the two — the only white council members — played a role in his “witness” selection. “You and councilman Muschal ... you share something in common with Councilman Muschal,” he said. “And to think that of all of the other members of this body that you went to her out of everybody else is too coincidental to be a coincidence.”

9. Officials shouldn’t overturn a referendum: Muschal said Monday that no directors should be leading the police and fire departments. In 1999, voters decided through a referendum to replace the chief position with civilian directors. But Muschal — a former city cop of 40 years — said he didn’t want the decision to go back to the voters. The mayor, who is also council president, wanted his peers to make the choice. “There’s no reason to let the voters decide when council can decide,” Muschal said. Many residents used Muschal’s own words against him. “I’m offended that you would say in the paper that you don’t need the citizens vote, that the council can vote,” community activist Darren “Freedom” Green said. “This is our city. It’s not yours, George.”

Advertisement

8. Pouring gas on the fire: Shortly after making one of his most controversial decisions of his political tenure, Muschal brought up the fact he wanted to install police chiefs in the city’s public safety departments, a touchy subject for residents. “That’s opening a can of worms because I think we still have a police director,” Rev. J. Stanley Justice. “There are some things you don’t open up especially when you understand again what’s in the air.” Justice added Muschal should have kept that to himself or pray it wouldn’t “come out at an inopportune time.” “Those kind of things are not helpful, they’re not healthy, especially in the environment that we’re in right now,” he said.

7. Wearing two hats: When Muschal took over for convicted former Mayor Tony Mack at the end of February, he was also council president. Instead of deciding to step down from the post to dedicate more time to the mayoral position or eliminate the appearance of being too powerful, Muschal kept both positions. Councilman Zachary Chester guaranteed the public that the mayor would either be forced out by his peers from the council president position or Muschal would resign from that post. Residents agreed there should be separation between the executive and legislative bodies. “We got to figure what hat you’re going to wear,” resident Rachel Cogsville-Lattimer said. “Because at some point you got to relinquish one of these hats.” Cogsville-Lattimer added the recent dilemma showed his control of both offices is an issue. “How are you going to vote?” she asked. Muschal abstained from the vote to reinstate Bashir.

6. Listening to advice given by?: The mayor claimed throughout his ordeal that he received an opinion from the law department that his firings were done correctly. Turns out someone was wrong. Amana was told by the Division of Local Government Services (DLGS) to return back to her post because Muschal did not receive state approval, a condition of the city’s transitional aid agreement. The state claimed Bashir’s fire director position did not apply to those same standards, but city law might have prohibited his removal. Councilman Chester said he asked where the opinion came from. “The reply I received was no opinion came from the law department,” the councilman said. “You could not provide me with who gave you the legal opinion to go the direction you’re trying to go in.” Attorney Steve Glickman attended Tuesday’s council meeting and was quickly ushered into the mayor’s office by Muschal. After the meeting, the mayor went back into his office to meet with Glickman. The attorney’s firm had a resolution for a contract to provide legal services on Thursday’s agenda for $60,000. Muschal motioned for the measure and it received no support from the other council members, so it died. It remains unknown if Glickman — a former labor attorney for the city — gave Muschal any legal advice in his termination decisions.

5. Holding a grudge: Muschal’s opinion of Bashir and Police Director Ralph Rivera Jr. are public knowledge. He has called for both to be removed from their positions as a councilman before he took over as mayor. But as the city’s boss, it appears Muschal hasn’t put the beef aside. “You may have a disagreement with the police director, but you need to stop airing that,” community activist Darren “Freedom” Green said. “I could tell you what’s being said in the streets: ‘The leader of the city and the leader of public safety are on two different pages.’ In between, citizens are murdered.” With violence on the uptick, Green argued Muschal has to settle his differences. “Every time a shooting occurs, I need to see my mayor out front, addressing that issue, standing with the police and challenging this community to be better,” he said. Since his two months in office, Muschal has yet to have a press conference regarding the murders, even though the city is on pace to break last year’s homicide record.

4. He rocked the boat when he should have steadied the ship: Muschal is at the helm for only four months, but he has already hit an iceberg. The mayor could have steered the city smoothly until he handed off the post to the next mayor on July 1 in better hands than he received it. But so far, his tenure has been plagued with a historic blunder from the clerk and his inappropriate firing of two directors. And when given the chance to correct his mistake, Muschal stood silent and let council do the dirty work for him. “You just need to be a man and correct what you have done wrong,” community activist Positive Force said. “You need to make a correction tonight.”

3. Calling the police on Bashir: Muschal of all people should know the embarrassment of having the police called on someone trying to return to work. Mack ordered a police escort to remove Deputy Clerk Cordelia Staton from City Hall after he had fired her in 2010. Muschal escorted her back to the job a few times after she was terminated. He called out Mack in the press for the humiliating circumstance. But that didn’t stop Muschal from calling the police on Bashir Wednesday after council ordered him to report to work. “With all the crime going on in this city, you have the police department escort a respectable man out,” said Eric Muhammad, a representative of the Nation of Islam in Trenton. “For the time that you wasted the police officers’ time to escort this respectful man out of the (fire) department, you need to reimburse the city.”

2. No apologies: An apology goes a long way. But after repeatedly being asked for one by residents, Muschal failed to provide it. “You owe the Muslim community an apology. You owe black people an apology. You owe the city an apology,” one man said to applause. An apology, however, did come from one of Muschal’s colleagues. “I would just like to this time to apologize to the entire city of Trenton,” Councilwoman Kathy McBride said. “Because we are here to do a job, we are not here to be on the front page of the newspaper.” McBride added the incident affected everyone. “I would also like to extend an olive branch to my colleague because we’ve all let him know tonight how we feel about what he has done.”

1. Acting like Mack: Muschal was one of Mack’s biggest critics. But residents called Muschal a hypocrite for acting the same way. “The playbook of the past administration was left somewhere and has been picked up again,” Rev. Justice said. Mack was infamous for making illegal firings of his enemies and putting his cronies in jobs. “You sat through one of the greatest nightmares in the last four years and now you’re repeating the same actions,” Green said. “I’m offended and appalled that you would do the same things that you spoke up against the former mayor.” Muschal asked Mack to step down after being indicted on federal corruption charges. Residents are now calling for Muschal’s head. “You wanted Mr. Mack to resign, you need to resign,” a resident said.

About the Author

Originally from Webster, N.Y., David has been a reporter in N.J. for the past three years (first in Phillipsburg and now in Trenton).He is a Temple alum who interned at the Philadelphia Daily News. Reach the author at dfoster@trentonian.com
.